The Universal Justice Network (UJN) urges you to sign the letter below in support of Professor Seyed Mohammad Marandi in condemnation of a bounty listing and the incitement of violence against him. This letter will then be sent to the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, United Nations Human Rights Council and United Nations Special Rapporteurs to express to them the grave violation of human rights that has been allowed the occur.

Professor Marandi has spoken truth to power whilst under the US-Israeli bombardment of Iran. His right to use his freedom of speech as an academic has been met with many threats of violence against him which includes a bounty listing in an attempt to silence him. We cannot allow a blatant and detrimental silencing of academics, this is both an attack on academic freedom and also human rights.

We call upon the UN Human Rights Council to respond to the threats against Professor Seyed Mohammad Marandi and condemn the bounty listing and incitement to violence as a grave violation of human rights and to hold all those involved to account including governments and multinational companies.

Sign the letter to show your support as well.

This letter will be sent to the following:

• Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights
• United Nations Human Rights Council
• Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Expression
• Special Rapporteur on Freedom of Assembly
• Special Rapporteur on Counter-Terrorism
• Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders
• Special Rapporteur on Racism
• Special Rapporteur on Right to Education
• Special Rapporteur on Privacy (Internet)

The Letter:

Joint Statement in Support of Professor Seyed Mohammad Marandi and Condemnation of Bounty Listing and Incitement to Violence

We, the undersigned members of the international academic and intellectual community, express our full solidarity with Professor Seyyed Mohammad Marandi in condemning in the strongest possible terms the fascistic decision of X (formerly Twitter) to allow the account @Terror_Alarm to place a financial bounty on Dr. Marandi. We also condemn the role of X in allowing this bounty to be published as a “paid partnership,” thereby commercializing and legitimizing this violence. After numerous users flagged the post for breaching X’s own terms and conditions, X removed the original content but went further to issue a wholly unfounded and defamatory accusation against Professor Marandi.

Professor Seyed Mohammad Marandi has long been a courageous voice against war, imperialism, and genocide. He has risked his life under US-Israeli bombardment of Iran and under repressive mainstream media and social media policies in order to speak truth to power and defend the rights of the Iranian nation. His scholarship and activism have challenged narratives of militarism and impunity and have sought to uphold the principles of international human rights law, the laws of war, and the protection of civilians. That he should now be targeted with a bounty is not only an attack on his personal safety, but an attack on the integrity of academic speech in times of war and on the right of intellectuals to speak out at the greatest personal risk. Ironically, this supposedly “free speech" platform is profiting from the threats of violence against an academic because of his speech.

The posting of a bounty on any individual—especially one framed as a “paid partnership” so that financial incentives are tied to the encouragement of violence—constitutes a clear and serious form of support for terrorism and incitement to violence, falling within the meaning of terrorism-related incitement and solicitation under multiple international and domestic legal frameworks:

●      Taking note the thematic report by the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) (2023) which underscores the use ofnew technologies, including social media, by repressive actors, for "surveillance, monitoring, intrusion, disinformation campaigns and online harassment and cyber-attacks", and emphasizes the need for complementarity between digital and traditional investigative methods.

●      Highlighting the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1624 (2005) which explicitly calls upon all States “to adopt such measures as may be necessary and appropriate and in accordance with their obligations under international law to prohibit by law incitement to commit a terrorist act or acts” and to prevent such conduct. This resolution has been repeatedly reaffirmed in subsequent Council resolutions, including Resolution 2129 (2013) and Resolution 2395 (2017), both of which emphasize the need to address the misuse of information and communications technologies (ICTs) for terrorist purposes, including the exploitation of online platforms to promote terrorism, recruitment, and incitement.

●      Furthermore, the United Nations Global Counter Terrorism Strategy and the work of the UN Office of Counterterrorism (UNOCT) and the Counterterrorism Executive Directorate (CTED) recognize that the internet and digital platforms must not be allowed to become vehicles for the “planning, recruitment, financing, and incitement of terrorist acts”. 

Under this framework, it is expected that the promotion of terrorism and the incitement of violence online be treated as serious criminal offences, and that platforms cooperate in preventing the dissemination of such content. The monetization of a bounty-style post against a scholar engaged in nonviolent political speech is squarely at odds with these international standards.

We therefore call on X (the platform) to:

●      Immediately and permanently remove all related content targeting Professor Seyed Mohammad Marandi;

●      Disclose the full details of the paid partnership arrangement connected to this post, including the parties involved and the criteria under which it was approved;

●      Provide transparent explanations of how content involving bounties on individuals is reviewed, and why this post was allowed to run for a while under monetization;

●      Review and strengthen its global content moderation and revenue policies to ensure that no financial or commercial incentives are attached to content that incites, threatens, or facilitates violence or terrorism against individuals or groups, in line with the UN’s guidance on the misuse of ICTs for terrorist purposes. 

●      Investigate the posting of this bounty as a possible act of incitement to terrorism, solicitation of violence, or related criminal offences under applicable counterterrorism and public order laws, including national measures adopted to implement UN Security Council Resolution 1624 (2005) and the UN Global Counterterrorism Strategy;

We affirm that:

Intellectuals who risk their lives during war to speak out against aggression, atrocity, and injustice must be protected, not threatened with bounty-style campaigns.

Global platforms that profit from paid partnerships attached to such content bear a significant ethical and legal responsibility, in view of the standards set by the United Nations and international counterterrorism bodies, which explicitly require States to prohibit incitement to terrorism and to cooperate with the private sector in countering the online promotion of terrorist acts.

The international academic community will not tolerate attempts to silence its members through intimidation, “terrorism alerts,” or financial bounties designed to incite violence.

We stand with Professor Seyed Mohammad Marandi in his right to safety, freedom of expression, and academic integrity. We call upon universities, research institutions, and academic associations worldwide to publicly support him and to refuse complicity with any platform practice that monetizes threats to human life.